Fancy Mice Environment
A pet mouse cage needs to be large and full of toys and enrichment. The floorspace of your cage is called its 'footprint' and for female mice height is more important whereas male mice prefer more horizontal space. Rat cages are fine for mice providing bar spacing is under 1cm and a good guideline for a small group of mice is a floorspace of 80 x 40cm.
Pet shops woefully underestimate the suitability and size requirements needed for mice so please do not be conned into buying tiny tanks or modular systems. Rotastak is not suitable for any rodent. For reasons why see our article on Why Modular Systems are Bad for your Pet.
Pet mouse Cage types
- Wire cages: these give excellent ventilation and are good for climbing. You can hang plenty of toys from various positions and can interact with your animal through the bars. They can be quite difficult to clean. They provide much better opportunities for taming and enrichment. Ensure bar spacing is 1cm or less to prevent escapees.
- Glass tanks: - needs work to allow climbing material and are much more difficult to interact with your mice as they will consider hands from above very predatory. Very easy to clean but have poor ventilation. Do not use these with the standard heavy lids for fish - a staple gun, some 1mm wide wire mesh and bits of wood can easily make a decent lid to allow more air to pass through.
- a RUB: - if you are taking in rescues or money is an issue a plastic storage box can be converted into a RUB container for rodents. You must mesh top and all sides to allow adequate ventilation and ensure you go for a size that meets minimum unbroken floorspace requirements.
Always go for the largest cage your budget can afford - second-hand cages come up frequently.
Substrate and bedding
Sawdust, or anything pine or cedar based should not be used since it can affect the lungs of mice and cause respiratory problems. Items such as Carefresh are quite good and absorbent, whilst still allowing space for burrowing. A cheaper alternative for this is to get a horse bedding such as MegaZorb.Other suitable substrates include Ectopetbed, bedexcel and finacard.
Hay is a good addition to a pet mouse setup since mice love chewing this and it also aids their digestion.
For bedding avoid the soft cotton-wool style as this can tangle mouse limbs, the recycled shreds of paper or strings are good for nesting.
Toys and Nests
Wooden and plastic toys are suitable for mice, providing you don't have an obsessed chewer. Wooden items retain scent more and do need more frequent cleaning but they will provide better enrichment as they are safer to chew than plastic.
Bendy bridges, ladders, cardboard and plastic tubes are all good additions.
Some commercially available toys are not suitable for pets as they are composed entirely of sawdust which is dangerous for your pet to digest.
Your mice must have multiple nesting sites available, coconut shells, wooden houses and fabric items are also fine. You can also hang fabric ropes and pet-safe hammocks. These must be washed regularly and checked frequently and trimmed of any dangerous loose threads.
Wheels
Wheels must be solid-based and not have spokes. Your mouse needs to be able to run easily without an arched back, with 8 inches being a good size for this. Mice benefit greatly from wheels and can also enjoy flying saucer type wheels which help avoid squabbles when more than one mouse is in a mood for running.
Fancy Mice Diet
Pet mice can be quite picky eaters and is important to wait until they empty their bowl before refilling so they are not just eating their favourites and get a balanced diet. Red mice in particular are prone to obesity and treats should be given in moderation. It is important the a fancy mouse diet is varied and healthy. Many commercially available mouse foods include a lot of 'filler' items that are not high in nutritional value and so ideally you should try to make the mouse seed mix yourself; it is worth noting that different mice thrive on different items so you may find that your specific line of mice needs less fat or more grains that other strains. If you are ever in doubt of a foods suitability simply check online at a reputable source before feeding it.
Water
Should always be available and changed daily. A bowl or bottle is fine for this, if using the latter just keep a careful eye on them as they can get clogged.
Seed mix
The Shunamite diet used for rats can be adapted safely for mice since they have similar nutrional requirements to rats. A good base mix for mice is rat muesli, crushed oats, barley, porridge oats, various millets and grains can be added in various quantities.
A small amount of fennel seed added to the seed mix can reduce the urine smell from your mice.
Fresh
Fruit and vegetables such as apple, banana, blueberries, papaya, tomato, broccoli, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, curly kale and sweet potato.
Foods that are high in water content should be given sparingly due to the diarrhoea risk. Items like watermelon and cucumber can be added to a mouse carrier during a long journey where other water sources cannot be given.
Protein
A small amount of protein can be given on a semi-regular basis, items such as mealworms, cheese, monkeynuts and scrambled egg. Mice should not have a diet too high in protein past the kitten stage as this has been linked to various health problems and some keepers recommend having it compose no more than 13% of their mix.
Treats
Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, mealworms, cooked soya beans (thought to reduce the likelihood of tumours), stale or toasted wholemeal bread as well as pet-shop treats.
Fancy Mice Colours
Fancy Mice colours are usually divided into five varieties, as set in the Standards published by the National Mouse Club. Mouse eyes can be either black or red, with the term "pink eye" covering all shades between pink and red. The recognised varieties are as follows:
- Selfs: Mouse is the same, solid colour on top, belly and sides. Recognised colours are Black; Blue; Champagne; Chocolate; Cream; Dove; Fawn; Red; Silver; White and Lilac.
- Tans: Recognised colour on top, with a tan belly (Black Tan; Blue Tan; Dove Tan; Silver Tan; Silver Grey Tan)
- Marked: Marked mice are a standard colour with combinations on white in various patterns (Dutch; Even; Broken; Variegated; Himalayan; Rumpwhite, Tricolour, Banded and Hereford).
- Satin: Satin mice have a highly glossy coat with a metallic like sheen (Argente Satin; Dove Satin; Fawn Satin; Ivory Satin).
- AOV: Any other variety. This encompasses all other standardised varieties that have not be separately classified (Agouti; Cinnamon; Silver Agouti; Sable; Marten Sable; Pearl; Argente; Silver Grey, Brown or Fawn; Argente Cream; Astrex; Silver Fox; Seal Point Siamese; Blue Point Siamese; Himalayan; Longhaired; Brindle).
Non-standardised fancy mice colours include Blue Agouti, Burmese, Blue Burmese, Sable and Stone.
Coat Types
- Standard: sometimes referred to as the 'wild type'.
- Angora: May be shown as longhaired, depending on what the club recognises. Can comprise other aspect of coat type such as Angora Satin, Angora Rex (known as Texel), Angora Fuzzy.
- Longhaired: May be classified as Angora. Colour as any standardised variety, coat to be long and silky in nature.
- Astrex: Curly coat and whiskers.
- Hairless: as hairless as possible with clear, bright skin.
- Abyssinian: Not yet standardised so classified as pet type only. Abyssinian mice have 'rosettes' or 'swirls' in their coat in various size and numbers across their body.
Fancy Mice Behaviour
Mice are very sociable and should ideally not be kept alone. Female mice, known as does must have company but male mice, known as bucks are much more difficult to keep together happily, even if littermates. Only experienced keepers of mice should attempt this.
Male mice can however be neutered, and if you have a vet with experience in this it is definitely worth considering. Neutered male mice will live together in small groups, or with females. You must wait 6 weeks after the operation before you can do this to avoid the risk of pregnancy.
For female mice, a trio works well since in the unhappy event of one dying, you are not left with a lonely mouse. Females like vertical space more than males, although both should have a large, barred cage and plenty of enrichment opportunities and hideouts. See the section on Fancy Mice Environment for more details. Male mice are said to bond better with their owners than females, but this will vary by mouse.
Mice are very curious but have quite poor vision, this does not affect them greatly since they rely a lot on their keen sense of smell. Blind mice have in fact been kept quite successfully and happily, and just require a little more thought in cage layouts.
Mice sometimes rattle their tails when angry or frightened, it is often territorial behaviour but can sometimes also be excitement or interest. Male mice also may shuffle their bum across a surface to scent mark.
It is natural for your mice to have a hierarchy, and sometimes you will find a mouse sleeping alone. Small squabbles, chasing and even same-sex mounting may occur and is normal behaviour. You only need to separate if blood has been drawn.
It is quite easy to introduce new female mice once you know how - in fact, a better group dynamic is achieved when you have a mixture of ages together. This can liven up the older mice, as well as giving the younger ones older animals to learn from. See the section on Introducing new mice for more details. Rodent intros vary quite widely so please do not apply this advice to any other rodent.